Clothes wringer



Filed Dec. 25, 1947 INVENA'EIR: rP/fE/V Z FE ETE Agy..

Patented July 4, 1,950

STATES PATENTVV yFFICE f' 2,514,321 I l cLo'rHEs WRINGER v. y ,y Stephen I. Fekete, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich. y 'Application' December 23, 1947, servialNo."19515741"v l My present invention has 4foryits object e, new and improved clothes wringer intended particularly for domestic use but capable also of other uses.

The ordinary domestic clothes wringer as heretofore constructed has usually had two or more cylindrical or nearly cylindrical rubber rolls mounted in a frame which supports the rolls at each end, and the rolls are sometimes rigidly mounted but more often are held in contact with each other by a heavy spring. Since the rolls are supported at each end kby the frame, the clothes to be .passed through Asuch wringers can be no wider than the distance between the side supports, i. e. the length of the rolls, or they must be folded to such a width. Buttons and fastenings catch on the rolls, particularly at the ends of the rolls, and, therefore, frequently are torn from the clothes or broken. If such wringers are power operated, the user is always in serious danger of injury when feeding the clothes into the rolls.

I have discovered that it is possible to make a wringer through which clothes having a width greater than the length of the rolls may be passed without folding; which is much less likely to do injury to clothes or to strip off or break buttons or fasteners and which can be power-operated with complete safety to the operator.

I make my improved wringer with two conical rolls secured at their large ends or bases to rotating heads, the rolls being hollow and flexible and inflated like a pneumatic tire. The small ends of the rollers are unsupported but the tapering form of the rollers with their relatively large bases, and the proper degree of inflation gives to the rollers the requisite resistance to bending so that the rollers are capable of exerting adequate pressure, even though they are entirely unsupported on the interior and at one end. This construction enables the rollers to yield if a bunch or an obstruction such as a protruding button passes between them and likewise reduces the danger that the operator will be injured in feeding the clothes to the wringers, even when the wringer is power operated. In most instances it makes the use of a compressive spring to hold the rollers together unnecessary. Furthermore, since the rollers are supported only at one end and since at their opposite ends no side support or frame is needed, clothes which are wider than the length of the rollers may be passed through them without folding the portion of the garment which protrudes hanging down over the end of the lower roller.

2 Claims. (Cl. (S8-244) The unwrung portion of the 56 garment or article may then be dried 'by a" second pass through the machine.

My invention will be understood by reference to the drawings in which,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the wringer embodying my invention, the same being secured to the edge of a tub; and

Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Referring now to the drawings, at A is indicated a. tub to which the wringer is clamped. The wringer includes a frame made in two pieces II and I2 and having suitable projecting members I3 and I4 and clamping screws I5 by which the wringer can be secured to the tub. Mounted in suitable bearings I6 and I1 in the frame is a hollow shaft I8 carrying a bevel gear I9. The frame also has another set of bearings 2I and 22 in which is mounted another hollow 'shaft 23 and on which is a gear 24 which meshes with gear I9. The axes of the shafts I8 and 23 are inclined with respect to each other at an angle of about 20 degrees and, consequently, the gears I9 and 24 are beveled.

The shafts I8 and 23v carry heads 25 and 26, respectively, to each of which is secured a rim 21. On each head is mounted an inflatable conical or tapering hollow roller, preferably composed of a flexible casing 30 of rubber or the like and an inner tube 3|. The casing has a bead 32 fitting under the flange of the rim 21 while the inner tube 3| is provided with a neck 34 which extends through the hollow shaft in which it is mounted. At 35 is shown an air valve of the type ordinarily used for pneumatic tires, by means of which the roll is maintained in inflated condition. An operating handle I-I is secured to the outer end of the lower shaft I8. When inflated to the proper pressure, the conical rolls present an efficient and hard butyielding resilient surface to the clothes as they are passed through them, and it is not necessary to provide a compression spring to furnish the requisite pressure on the clothes or to allow for variations in thickness of the clothes. I prefer to make the machine so that the line of contact between the conical rollers, is about horizontal and the axis of the top and bottom roller each make about the same angle to the horizontal. The conical shape of the rollers and their inflation stiffen the rollers so that they will not bend away from each other substantially. Accordingly, they exert the requisite force on the work, even near the points of the cones. The outer surfaces of the rollers may be given any suitable conguration as, for instance, a series of low ridges and grooves as indicated at 40, 4I in Fig. 2.

Since the rollers are supported only on one end, there is no frame at the other end, and clothes which are wider than the length of the rollers may be passed through them without folding. Likewise their resilient compressible nature due to their inflation makes them yield, if necessary, and allows the passage of such things as buttons or lumps of` clbth. Likewise the operators hand is not likely to be injured even though the machine is power operated.

I claim:

1. A Wringer having in combination a pair of substantially conical cooperating iniiated flexible resilient wringing members rotatably supportedonly at their bases and with their opposite ends free and otherwise unsupported and means for rotating said wringing members.

2. A wringer having' in combination a pair of substantially conical cooperating inflatedv iiexible resilient wringing rollers ymounted at their larger 4 ends on rotatably supported rigid heads, and means for rotating said wringing rollers, said conical rollers being in substantial contact with each other and being supported only at the larger ends of the rollers by said heads and held in working relation to each other solely by inflation and the said heads.

STEPHEN I. FEKETE.

REFERENCES CITED- The following references are of record in the rile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,054,121 Simon Mar. 4, 1913 1,709,436 Koester Apr. 16, 1929 2,228,853 Skinner Jan. 14, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 108,813 Australia Oct. 26, 1939 

